HARDENBROOK & RICE The engine builders of Jasper, Missouri, and the Gade connection
Having a degree in history, my interest in the gas engine hobby goes beyond the mechanical to an interest in the history behind the engines we collect, and being born and raised in the “Show-Me” state gives me a particular interest in Missouri-built engines.
One day while indulging these combined interests, I was researching historic Missouri newspapers online for engine-related articles when I found a reference in The Jasper News to the Hardenbrook-Rice engine. Jasper is a small town between Lamar and Carthage, Missouri, in the southwestern part of the state. The town’s population in 1900 was only 627 people, and had only grown to 931 by 2010. Hardenbrook and Rice
At the turn of the 20th century, Frank Hardenbrook and William Rice were well-known inventors in Jasper. In April 1901, reported Hardenbrook and Rice had patented a gasoline engine “and will manufacture and place them on the market.” The May 9, 1901, issue of the paper mentioned their engine was “on exhibition at Cozatt’s store,” followed on May 22 by an article boasting of a horseless wagon built by the
